Drainage bag



June 1, 1965 F. J. BARTZ DRAINAGE BAG Filed May 4, 1962 INVENTOR.

FRANKJ BA RTz wmf/@1A F/G 5 'E United States Patent O 3,186,409 DRAINAGE BAG Frank J. Bartz, Plymouth, Mass., assignor to Princeton Laboratories, Incorporated, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed May 4, 1962, Ser. No. 192,406 2 Claims. (Cl. 12S- 275) This invention relates generally to post surgical drainage bags, and has particular reference to a disposable drainage bag of the type used for the collection of body drainage uids under sterile conditions.

During hospitalization after many types of surgical procedures, it is necessary to provide a drainage tube from the patient to permit the elimination of waste uids. Such fluids may be intended for laboratory analysis or may be discarded, but in either case it is desirable that the collecting bag be maintained in a sterile condition, and that it be capable of being handled without danger of spillage, or without being contaminated by airborne bacteria, and without the possibility of transferring infection to personnel handling the bags.

Devices previously used for this purpose have been found to have a number of disadvantages. To enable the contents of the bag to be observed while drainage is 3,186,409 Patented June 1, 1965 ice 'Other objects of the invention will be apparent to one skilled in the art from the following detailed description of a specific embodiment thereof.

occurring, it is necessary that the bag be formed of transt parent material. For economy of manufacture and ease of handling and storage, it has been found convenient to form the bags of a plastic sheet material such as polyethylene or vinyl having the required strength and chemical resistance to contain body fluids. However the conl venience of this type of bag in the above respects is offset by the ditliculty and inconvenience of handling, both in preparing the bag for use and in removing and handling after use. To insure that the interior of the bag is maintained in a sterile condition during storage, it must be in a completely sealed condition. Hence just prior to use, the bag must be cut to form an opening to receive the end of the drainage tube. The cutting is customarily done at the patients bed with ordinary scissors, which are not normally maintained in a sterile condition. The most convenient method of s o forming an opening is to cut olf an upper corner of the bag. This cutting operation tends to seal together the front and back walls of the bag along the line of the cut, making their separation and the insertion of the end of the drainage tube difficult. Usually the edges must be separated with the finger nails, which is another possible source of contamination.

The opening so formed cannot be resealed after the bag is ready to be removed, andi when a substantial amount of drainage fluid is in the bag, it is diflicult to handle without spilling fluid from the unsealed aperture.

Devices previously used for this purpose also have the disadvantage of requiring a special hanger to enable them to be secured to the bed rail or other supporting structure.

The object of this invention is to provide a drainage bag of the type described which has a preformed opening with removable means sealing said opening.

A further object of the invention is to provide a drain-v age bag of the type described in which a ap formed in the wall of the bag is provided with removable sealing means for retaining the flap in the closed condition.

A further object of the invention is to provide a drainage bag of the type described in which a preformed opening is provided with sealing means for retaining a drainage tube in position in the opening and for resealing the opening after use.

A further object of the invention is to provide a drainage bag of the type described in which means is provided for assembly of the bag onto a bed rail or other supporting structure without the use of a special hanger.

In the drawing:

FIG. l is a view in elevation of a drainage bag embodying the features of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan View of the bag of FIG. 1, with the vertical scale being enlarged for clarity;

FIG. 3 is a view in elevation of the upper medial portion of the bag of FIG. l, illustrating the method of assembly of a drainage tube;

FIG. 4 is a View similar to FIG. 3, after the drainage tube has been sealed in position in the bag opening;

FIG. 5 is a view in section taken on line S-S of FIG. 1, illustrating the attachment of the bag to a support, with the horizontal scale being enlarged for clarity;

FIG. 6 is a view in section taken on line 6-6 of FIG. l, with the vertical scale being enlarged for clarity;

FIG. 7 is a view in section taken online 7-7 of FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawing, there is illustrated a drainage bag 10 of the type adapted to receive post-surgical body drainage uids. The bag 10 is formed of transparent plastic sheet of any suitable composition, conveniently of a type of material which is capable of being heat-sealed to itself. The bag may be formed of two superimposed sheets of plastic heat-sealed about the pe- -riphery, or may be formed of tubing of suitable diameter flattened and heat-sealed at the ends. To provide means for attaching the bag to the side rail of a bed or other support, one side of the upper end of the bag may be provided with a strip yof attaching tape 12 of the type having an adhesive, such as the pressure sensitive type, disposed on the rear surface. The front side of said tape is adhered to the upper portion of the bag, and the rear side may be provided with a protective paper 14 having a free end 16 to enable the paper 14 to be peeled off to expose the adhesive. Tapes having the above characteristics are well known in the art.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention the upper end of the front and back sheets forming the bag are heat sealed together along a continuous upper line 13, along lines 20 and 22 spaced downwardly from the upper line, and along lines 24 and 26 extending between the upper line 18 and the adjacent ends of the lower lines 20 and 22, leaving a medial space 28.

The attaching tape 12 is positioned on the rear of the bag `so that the lower edge of the tape covers and is adhered to the sealed lines 20 and 22, and covers the rear ofthe medial space 28 for a purpose to appear hereinafter.

To provide access to the interior of the bag for the end of a drainage tube 30, the front of the bag is provided witha flap 32 disposed in the medial space 2S, said flap being formed by shearing at one end and two sides, without removing material, leaving one end joined integrally to the sheet to serve as a-hinge. Disposed over said flap is a sealing tape 34, which is both wider and longer than the flap, and is positionedto extend beyond both ends and both sides, and preferably extends to the heat-seal line 26. The tape 34 is provided with a suitable adhesive on the side adjacent the bag, and is adhered to both the flap and the portion of the bag immediately surrounding the flap. An end portion 36 of the tape may be free of adhesive, to enable the tape to be grasped when the bag is being prepared for use.

The front of the bag may be provided with indicia to permit visual determination of the amount of fluid in the bag. To increase the accuracy of measurement of small amounts of uid, the capacity of the lower portion of the Y bag may be reduced in proportion to the rest of the bag retained in position.

posed surface pressed firmly against the bed rail or other support. Either before or after this operation the end 36 of the seailng tape 34 may be peeled back, and since the flap 32 is adhered to the tape, the ap is thereby lifted away from the bag, forming an opening 40 to receive the end of the tube 30. After the tube is inserted into the opening, the tape 34 may be pressed around the tube and again adhered to the bag, whereby the tube is securely When it is desired to remove the bag, the tape 34 may again be lifted, the tube removed, and the tape again sealed to the bag so that the flap 32 closes the opening. The bag may thereafter be removed without danger of leakage or spillage.

Although itY has previously been thought that releasable adhesives of the type contemplated herein could not attach to a support a bag of this type, due to the weight it must contain, I have unexpectedly found that such an .attachment may be made with a high degree of reliability by means of the above described structure. The provision of the lower heat seal lines 20 and 22 which are adhered to the lower edge portion of the attaching tape,

v transfers the Weight of the bag directly tothe lower edge of the attaching tape 12, thereby utilizing the shear strength of the entire tape width, and avoiding a tendency of the tape 12 to be rolled olf of the supporting surface from the top edge, as would be the case if only the upper heat seal line 18 were present.

The tape 12 also serves another purpose now to be described?. In some methods of manufacture of the herein described embodiment of the invention, the flap 32 is most conveniently formed by punching completely through both layers of sheet material, whereby an unnecessary flap is formed in the rear sheet. In such case, the tape 12, when assembled onto the back of the device in the manner shown, also serves to seal said extra flap in the closed position. It will, of course, be apparent that the adhesive strength between the bag and the attaching tape may be greater than that between the tape and the support onto which it is adhered, so that on removal of the bag from the support, the attaching tape will remain adhered to the bag, rather than to the support, to prevent inadvertent opening of the extra iiap in the rear side of the sheet.

The above described embodiment of the invention has a number of advantages over previ-ouslyknown types of drainage bags. The interior of the bag is maintained in a sealed, sterile condition during storage, yet the opening for the drainage tube is readily accessible without the necessity of using unsterile instruments. The opening receiving the drainage tube is substantially sealed during drainage, thereby preventing contamination of the contents by airborne bacteria. After removal, the bag is sealed to facilitate handling and also to permit the bag to be stored for a period of time, if necessary while awaiting laboratory analysis, Without the danger of contamination of either the contents or personnel.

Since certain obvious changes may be made in the above described embodiment of the invention without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained herein be interpreted` in an illustrative and not in a limiting sense,

I claim:

1. A drainage bag formed of superimposed sheets of flexible plastic material secured together about the edges, one of said sheets having an opening in the upper portion for receiving a drainage tube, a sealing tape disposed over the opening and secured to the surrounding portions ofthe sheet, said tape being adapted to be peeled away from the 4sheet to expose the opening, and to be readhered to the sheet to ena-ble it to retain a drainage tube .in position in the opening, said sheets also being secured together along a transverse support seal line spaced below the upper edge a distance which is a relatively small proportion of the total height of the bag, and adhesive attaching means disposed on oneof the sheets, said adhesive attaching means being transversely disposed over and secured to the portion of the sheet which includes said transverse support'seal line andalso is disposed over and secured to the portion of the sheet disposed above said seal line, whereby when said adhesive attaching means is adhered to a support, downward forces applied to said sheets is transmitted through said transverse support seall line to `the support and substantially no peeling force is applied to the adhesive attaching means( at the uppermost portion thereof.

2. A drainage bag formed of superimposed sheets of flexible plastic material secured together about the periphery, one of said sheets having an opening in the upper portion for receiving a drainage, said sheets being also sealed together along a transverse junction line disposed above said opening and spaced a predetermined distance below the upper portion of the periphery, and a transversely extending attaching tape secured to one of said sheets, the lower portion of Vsaid tape being secured to the portion of said sheet which includes said junction line and to the portion of said sheet above said junction line, whereby when said attaching tape is adhered to a support, downward forces applied to either of said sheets is transmitted through said junction line to the lower portion of said attaching tape and substantiallyno peeling force is applied to the upper edge of said tape.

References Cited by the Applicant UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,336,584 12/43 Andrew 229-625 2,703,576 3/55 Furr 12S- 283 42,883,985 v 4/59 Evans' 12S-295 2,886,036 5/59 Price 128-275 2,906,478 9/59 Merrick 248--95 2,959,386 11/60 Garth. 3,001,565v 6/61 Beach 229-4-62 3,055,368 9/62 Baxter 12S-283 FOREIGN PATENTS 223,569 7/ 58 Australia. `496,087 10/50 Belgium.

RrCHARD A. GAUDET, Primary' Examiner.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Examinar. 

1. A DRAINAGE BAG FORMED OF SUPERIMPOSED SHEETS OF FLEXIBLE PLASTIC MATERIAL SECURED TOGETHER ABOUT THE EDGES, ONE OF SAID SHEETS HAVING AN OPENING IN THE UPPER PORTION FOR RECEIVING A DRAINAGE TUBE, A SEALING TAPE DISPOSED OVER THE OPENING AND SECURED TO THE SURROUNDING PORTIONS OF THE SHEET, SAID TAPE BEING ADAPTED TO BE PEELED AWAY FROM THE SHEET TO EXPOSE THE OPENING, AND TO BE READHERED TO THE SHEET TO ENABLE IT TO RETAIN A DRAINAGE TUBE IN POSITION IN THE OPENING, SAID SHEETS ALSO BEING SECURED TOGETHER ALONG A TRANSVERSE SUPPORT SEAL LINE SPACED BELOW THE UPPER EDGE A DISTANCE WHICH IS A RELATIVELY SMALL PROPORTION OF THE TOTAL HEIGHT OF THE BAG, AND ADHESIVE ATTACHING DISPOSED ON ONE OF THE SHEETS, SAID ADHESIVE ATTACHING MEANS BEING TRANSVERSELY DISPOSED OVER AND SECURED TO THE PORTION OF THE SHEET WHICH INCLUDES SAID TRANSVERSE SUPPORT SEAL LINE AND ALSO IS DISPOSED OVER AND SECURED TO THE PORTION OF THE SHEET DISPOSED ABOVE SAID SEAL LINE, WHEREBY WHEN SAID ADHESIVE ATTACHING MEANS IS ADHERED TO A SUPPORT, DOWNWARD FORCES APPLIED TO SAID SHEETS IS TRANSMITTED THROUGH SAID TRANSVERSE SUPPORT SEAL LINE TO THE SUPPORT AND SUBSTANTIALLY NO PEELING FORCE IS APPLIED TO THE ADHESIVE ATTACHING MEANS AT THE UPPERMOST PORTION THEREOF. 